Mood music
Back when I was single my house was never quiet - I listened to music morning, noon and night. But the trouble with living with a musician is that there is so much music around. Though our tastes overlap a lot, often I just can’t find the things I want to listen to among the rows and rows of cds. And records? The vinyl collection runs into the thousands, and only 20 or so of them are mine.
Sometimes it’s easier to write in silence than waste 10 minutes and risk losing the train of thought while I find the right kind of music to go with my mood.
But when I do make the effort, the right music really helps the creative process. If I’m writing from scratch there should be as little distraction as possible, and I’ll choose music I can get lost in, something with a mesmeric quality, and no words. The last thing I want to be doing is sing along and lose the prose that was beginning to form.
This week, when I was typing up a synopsis I put together during the week, I allowed myself the luxury of lyrics. De Phazz (”a downtempo jazz ensemble integrating modern turntablism and elements of soul, Latin, trip hop and drum and bass into a lounge music sound” according to wikipedia) hit the spot.
Do you listen to music when you’re working? Do words distract you? What works for you?
That’s an amazing music collection! I love DePhazz too.
I listen to alot of music when I work. Different work calls for different genre of music and at times words distracts me. At such times, I choose to listen to foreign songs where I dont understand the meaning of words and the singer’s voice is purely like that of a musical instrument.
Try listening to Gotan Project or Acoustic Alchemy!
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11/52 on Flickr - Photo Sharing! said this on March 18, 2008 at 8:22 am